and then it sits forever. I can see on the modem diaplay that there is no activity.

In /etc/udev/rules.d/modem.rules I have :KERNEL=="ttyS0", SYMLINK="modem",MODE="0666however, /dev/modem permission is 20600 when it should be 20666.Then when I do "/etc/rc.d/rc.udev start" the /dev/modem permission changes to 20666. That still does not let me fax.Does that indicate that rc.udev is not initialized on booting?The modem seems to be alright. It does work using that moody chestnut-dialer. Moody meaning it will open or not.

Should any settings be changed in inittab? I enableds1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 19200 ttyS0 vt100

I changed back to kernel-2.6-18.5 now from 2.6.20 just in case, makes no difference, can't fax.

It was a matter of cleaning the contacts of the cable connecting from the modem to the computer. It seems in the high humidity climat I live this does happen, guess kind of a corrosion. I had it before with the speaker connection as well. The problem is to think that this might be the fault does escape once attention easily.